Your boss informs you that one of
two workers you supervise has to be let go. Times are tough and his decision is
final: Who to let go is up to you. Both workers do the same job, are equally
skilled and draw the same pay. Their seniority and attendance records are also
the same.

This is what's
called an ethical dilemma - how to decide What's the right thing to do?

But
first, another problem …

In
seminars on leadership and decision making, there's a popular precursor to TV's
Survivor - that old chestnut, the "lifeboat exercise." (If you know
it, stick with me. The solution will surprise you.)

In
the exercise, students are asked to imagine that a ship is sinking and that the
lifeboat isn't big enough to accommodate all the survivors. Heavy winds and waves
threaten to sink the lifeboat as well. Given thumbnail descriptions of the motley
crew, students are asked: "Which survivors should be thrown overboard?"
Should it be the mentally disturbed one-armed man who carries government secrets
in his head? Or the prostitute who's also an excellent nurse? And so on.

Chances
are you'll never find yourself in quite the same situation. But the exercise serves
as a great teaching example. In fact, the most ethical decision can only be discovered
if you're daring enough to question assumptions.

TRUE
STORY

In 1943, the
S.S. Deer Lodge was torpedoed by a German U-Boat. Seas were rough and winds were
heavy. Men were sick, injured, and the too-small lifeboat was in danger of sinking.
With little discussion and no debate, here's what they did:

While the
stronger men stayed on board to bail, others took turns going over the side, hanging
on to the gunwales as their only support. In the end, every crewman was saved.

What the crewmen
decided - right from the start! - was the opposite of our classroom assumption.
Instead of thinking, SOMEONE has to go ... their assumption was NO ONE
has to go!

Bob
Morrison, son of one of the crewmen (Leslie Morrison, 1910 - 1998) says his father
explained that: "The sick men were cared for, never neglected or resented.
And no one dreamed of throwing them overboard …Without being self-righteous, Pop
always communicated to us the importance of doing the right thing." [1]

Now let's return to that
opening problem:

Your
boss informs you that one of two workers you supervise has to be let go. Times
are tough and his decision is final. Both workers do the same job, are equally
skilled and draw the same pay. Their seniority and attendance records are also
the same. To make matters worse…

Who
to "throw overboard" is up to you. Your
question is clear:

Who
do I fire?

Who
do I fire!?, you say to yourself. I don't want to fire anyone! The
trick is to stop, to say to yourself, There's got to be a better way!

Searching
for a better way, you ask yourself an "opposite" question. Instead of
just asking: Who do I fire?... YOU ask yourself:

Who
do I HIRE?

At first,
the question makes no sense. We're trying to save money, not SPEND more money!
But you hang in there, trying to figure out, How COULD this question makes
sense after all?

A
moment later, you've got it: Who do we HIRE to turn business around!

Is
my boss's decision really final, or could he be persuaded to keep both men while
we hire someone new to bring in more business!

That's
what's called "questioning your assumptions," asking, for example: Is
there some way to make sure NO ONE gets fired? And if it turns out you CAN'T
hire someone…

What if
both workers agreed to work part time? (At least until business picked up again.)

What
if I spoke with my workers and discovered that one of them was thinking of quitting
anyway?

Do I know someone who could hire one of them?

Remember:
Faced with an ethical problem be sure to question every assumption you've made:
Is that really so? Does it have to be that way? How could it be some other
way? Maybe, in fact...
NO ONE has to go!

Finally
-- as promised! -- here are "Six Top Tips to Shake That Ethics Brain!"
When faced with an ethical challenge, use these tips to help you discover elegant,
ethical, inventive solutions.

1.
BE OPTIMISTIC

Know
that it may take some time, but eventually you'll discover one or more solutions
- maybe even some extraordinary ones.

2.
BE CLEAR

Write down
your problem in the form of a clear, precise question. And always pose your question
at least two very different ways. For example…

3.
ASK YOURSELF, "WHAT'S THE 'OPPOSITE' OF MY QUESTION?

Consider
this major challenge faced by the recording industry: teenagers illegally downloading
songs from the internet are depriving the industry of profits. Instead of asking,
How can we get teens to stop stealing our music?(and coming up
with the ethically questionable answer, Sue 'em!), what if the industry
asked the OPPOSITE of its question, How can we get teens to start buying our
music?

4. QUESTION
YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Make
a list of everything about your situation you know to be true - no matter how
large or how small. Now go back and question every assumption you've made:Is that really so? Does it have to be that way? How could it be some other
way?

Consider
Mahatma Ghandi, who successfully opposed the British Army … by refusing to eat!

Albert Einstein, a staunch
supporter of Ghandi (and no slouch in terms of creative thinking) believed: "If
at first an idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." For example,
maybe both workers could work part time! Remember…

Resist
the urge to reject a "wild new idea" the moment you hear it. Instead,
try to think Yes! and see where it takes you.

Finally
...

6. THINK OF YOUR
PROBLEM AS A GAME!

Regardless
of how serious or important the stakes, try to think of your problem… as game!
That should help free you from feelings of panic or dread. No one said the stakes
aren't high; but no one said you had to panic, either. What's
required is a "breezy" dedication to the task at hand:

Hmmm…
How AM I going to solve this problem?

Remaining optimistic - and
following the steps above - you'll be well on your way to discovering a variety
of elegant, ethical solutions. For example…

I
recently received a fan letter about one of my books from a convicted car thief,
Dave, currently an inmate in a Kentucky prison. I immediately wrote back, enclosing
another book and feeling confident Dave would have the time to read it. A week
later, my parcel was returned, stickered: REFUSED. I found a phone number for
the prison, called them up and asked what the problem was. Turns out that inmates
- after fourteen days of being there - may not receive packages of any kind. Whatever
"extras" they'd like - like an undershirt or a candy bar - must be purchased
at the prison commissary.

At
first I was stumped. (That's where you start!)

How
can I get this book to Dave?

That
was my question - or at least the first way I posed my question. Soon,
I posed my problem in an "opposite" way:

How
can Dave get to this book?

The
solution? Donate my book to the prison library and send Dave a letter telling
him it's there. So that's what I did, making Dave and his jail "charter members"
of my Books for Crooks Club.

Remember...

Think
of your ethical problems....as a game! A serious game with serious consequences,
but a "game" nonetheless. In fact, Bell South has created a fun online
ETHICS GAME! Set up like a quiz show, it's got an ANNOUNCER... GROANS for wrong
answers and APPLAUSE for right answers! Click on: Let's
Play The Ethics Game!

Footnotes:

[1] I wrote to Bob to
ask him about his dad. He replied: "I believe my Dad's conduct was typical,
not extraordinary, for his WWII generation. (It's also characteristic, I believe,
of our young troops today.)"

Joel Saltzman
is a speaker, facilitator and consultant who teaches people in business toShake
That Brain!®and discover solutions for maximum profit. This
article is adapted from his latest book, "Shake That Brain!" (Wiley,
2006). He can be reached Toll Free at 877-Shake It! (877-742-5348). e-mail:
joel@shakethatbrain.com www.shakethatbrain.com/wow